


Choose Your Friends Wisely

by frominsideacomputer



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Highschool AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2015-04-05
Packaged: 2018-03-21 09:45:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3687576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frominsideacomputer/pseuds/frominsideacomputer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky starts a new school and Steve quite likes him</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Steve ‘The Captain’ Rogers was well known throughout Westmount School; he was the rebel, the ‘badass’, the troublemaker.   
He was also well known for being openly gay, but this didn’t make much of a difference to how people treated him. They knew that he could easily throw a year 9 about 6 feet if they crossed him.   
He also wasn’t a horrible person, he didn’t bully or hurt, except maybe to the people who had it coming for literally being dicks.  
The problem with Steve was that his dad was a governor of the school so kicking him out would have caused all kinds of trouble for Mr Fury, the head.

"Steve, late again. That’s the fourth time this week. And it’s only Thursday." Dr Stark sighed as Steve sauntered ten minutes late into Physics class. They were two weeks into the term, and frankly, everyone knew the Captain had given up already. "That’s a detention this evening."  
“Can’t sir, I’m already triple booked.”   
He swung his bag into the desk and sat down, a packet of cigarettes fell out his pocket as his feet went onto the desk.   
“And that’s another detention for having cigarettes in school.” By now, the class could tell that Dr Stark was loosing the will to live with The Captain.

The lesson continued on, Steve wasn’t paying attention; his head filled with the planning of how he was going to teach Mr Banner a lesson after he gave him double detention for ‘accidentally’ setting fire to Peter’s hair. ‘He had it coming the homophobic dick.’ Was the excuse given by Steve.

However, Steve’s attention was caught when a handsome boy walked into their lesson, stopping Mr Stark teaching.   
Steve couldn’t take his eyes off this boy as he introduced himself as James Barnes.

He had messy brown hair with little curls above the ears. His skin was tanned, like he’d just spent time abroad, there was a small reddish scar above his right eye, it looked recently healed and it made him blink a little slower than normal.   
His eyes were a grey blue hybrid, like the colour of the sea on a cloudy day, long dark eyelashes flicked up, pointing to the ceiling.   
A square set jaw and prominent cheekbones finished off his face neatly; despite his tanned skin, his cheeks had a pinkish hue, and there were the last colours of a nasty bruise fading away by his ear.   
His shoulders were broad, sitting solidly under a plain grey t-shirt that may have counted as a little tight fitting.   
Under beige chinos, Steve guessed (hoped) there were a pair of legs as perfect as the rest of him.   
He carried a plain rucksack, that had a tear beneath the zip and seemed weighted down by something.

"Ah yes, James, this is your first week here isn’t it?"   
The boy nodded, clearly he didn’t want the entire class to know all about him.   
“You can sit-” He scanned around the class, looking for an empty seat. “-There, in front of Steve, second to last row.”   
As he sat down, his bag spilled open and a pile of books fell out: There were science revision books, at least 3 novels, a selection of comics and several maths textbooks.   
The entire class had seen the contents of the new boy’s bag and he seemed incredibly embarrassed about it.   
“Got enough books there nerd?” Louis Jotens, the well known bully and captain of the football team, sneered at James, who went even redder in the face and hurried to sit down again.   
“Hey, quit bullying the new kid!” Steve growled at Louis who was looking far too pleased with himself. “Would you like me to reenact what happened to Peter?” He threatened, knowing Louis was very protective over his hair.   
That shut Louis up, for now at least.   
“Thanks.” Muttered James, looking down into the desk, hoping the ground would swallow him up.

The lesson ended and everyone packed up, James was first up and out of the door, giving Steve a good look at his perfectly formed buttocks.   
“Stop staring, you’ll get done for perversion or something.” Natasha, one of the few people, besides his group of friends, Steve didn’t mind taking to, joked as she stopped his gaze by clapping in front of Steve’s face.   
He laughed quietly, swung his bag over his shoulder and went to find his friends.

"Hey! Have you seen this new kid?" Steve shouted to Clint, who was waiting in their usual spot, a cigarette hanging limply from his lips, with Steve’s other friends: Pepper ‘Salt’ Potts, a surprisingly clever girl who was holding her record for the longest time at one school by successfully completing two terms at Westmount School;   
Logan ‘The Wolf’ Jackman, who was really the brawn of the group, but he stayed because he lived on his own, meaning if any of then needed a place to crash for an evening, they could go to his;   
Marie ‘Rogue’ , a quiet girl who rarely spoke, but when she had a good constant supply of cigarettes, and even though she didn’t smoke, she and Clint had grown up together;   
then of course there was Clint ‘Hawkeye’ Barton, Steve’s right hand man, he and Steve would stay up all night planning revenges on teachers and students who had crossed any one of them. Clint was also the first person Steve had come out to, so they shared a bond like few others.

"New kid?" Clint clearly hadn’t had the privilege of meeting James.  
“Isn’t he called James?” Pepper piped up from behind a history book.   
“Yeah, he’s also very attractive.”   
“Better hope he plays for that team then.” Clint winked at Steve who punched him in the shoulder.

The conversation rambled on, they discussed mundane things, like assignments, the amount of work they were getting and who Jean had apparently slept with most recently.   
Steve was half paying attention, when something caught his eye. Movement near the tree which they were stood under, just onside the school grounds.   
“Hey, who’s there?” Steve called.  
No reply.  
He gestured to Logan who would not shut up about the new girls rugby player who had amazing tits and something.  
They all followed the Captain, and found James, sitting alone on a bench.   
“Is that him?” Clint whispered to Steve who nodded and went up the boy.

A shadow cast over James and he looked up to find Steve(?) and four other students staring down at him.   
In a scared voice he said “I don’t have anything to give you! Please don’t hurt me!” He grabbed his ripped bag and tried to run off, but Steve caught his shoulder before he could get too far.   
“Why would we want anything from you?” Steve looked at his friends who all shrugged and made nonchalant noises.   
“Because you saved my skin today?”  
“What, in physics?” Steve asked the kid.  
“Yeah. Can I go now please?” James felt like he was begging for his life.  
“No, we’ve done this to everyone who started new into our year, being nice them, then scaring the shit out of them before questioning then deciding how we treat them for the rest of their school life.” Pepper had always been a sarcastic asshole, especially at the beginning of the year.   
“Thank you Salt. I appreciate that.” Steve had a ‘100% done with your shit’ look in his eyes. “Anyway, back to you.” He pointed at James, who’s blue eyes stared scared back at Steve. “Three questions: Why did you move to here? Why did you assume we were going to hurt you? Are you homophobic? Go.”

He let James go who coughed nervously and began his mini autobiography.  
“I moved because I was bullied at my old school for being a nerd who didn’t have any friends. Which was true. That’s why I was so worried when that kid made fun of me. I had to move because I was being beaten up and it got so bad I was admitted to hospital for stitches.” He pointed at the scar above his eyes and put a hand over his fading bruise. “I was terrified you would hurt me because every day, I would have my dinner money and phone stolen, my bag ripped and if we had sports, they would steal my clothes. I was scared because you seem like the person who expects something in return after doing a good deed.” He looked at the ground, tears beginning to well up in his eyes.   
“I’m not homophobic…in fact…I…I…” He began to falter, clearly he didn’t want to tell them. “I’mgay.” He said it so quietly and quickly, that they barely understood. But Steve knew that look, telling people your most personal information. And Steve understood, he remembered what it was like to tell his parents, his mother who disowned him after he came out, and his father who took him in, unsure what to say at first, but over time it made no difference. He lives with his dad now, permanently, after his parents divorce, he’d been moving between different houses every week.

Hawkeye whispered in Steve’s ear. “Called it.”   
“Fuck you.”   
“That’s what you’ll do to him.”  
“Seriously, Fuck. You. Clint Barton.” Steve raised his voice, scaring James a little.

"Can I please go now?" He begged, wishing they would leave him alone.  
“Still no, hang with us this lunch. Then we’ll see.” Pepper commanded, dragging James towards their tree. “Will you to please stop arguing like a married couple?” She ordered Hawkeye and The Captain, who were still squabbling.  
“You just want to get in her panties!” Steve shouted.  
“She’s hot alright!”  
“I just don’t see it!”  
“That’s because you’re gay!”

Silence collapsed on the group like someone had flicked a switch.  
James grabbed his bag and stormed off. “If you’re using gay like that, I’m not being your friend!”  
“No, wait! He is actually gay!” Logan yelled at the retreating boy.   
“I am, nothing I like better than a bit of boy on boy action, especially including me.” Steve winked at James; who began walking back over to them.   
“So, you weren’t using it as an offensive term? It’s just a fact?”  
“Yep, just describing me.”   
“Okay, I’ll stay for now.”

There was an awkward silent pause.

"Right kid." Said Clint. "You need a nickname, we’ve all got one. I’m Hawkeye, because…" He looked to Steve for help, who shrugged, he’d had that nickname for so long, no one knew why anymore. "Because god knows, that’s why." He pointed at Steve. "He’s the Captain, because he shares a his last name and first initial with Captain America. Pepper is Salt, because, well, obvious reasons. Logan is The Wolf, why?" He put the question to the group, waiting for an answer.   
“Because in the first week of freshman year, I only wore T-shirts with wolves on them.” Logan muttered, it still embarrassed him.

"Ah yes. That was a week to remember, and this is Rogue, she was given the name by Professor Xavier, as, apparently, she could be part of a better team, but instead she’s a rogue." James looked at the girl, expecting a remark. "She also doesn’t say much. So we need a nickname for you kid. Any embarrassing stories? Interesting middle names?"  
“Well, my middle name is Buchanan…” He trailed off.  
“That can work. Buchanan. Buch. Buck. Bucky?”  
“Bucky can work.” James smiled, feeling part of something for once.   
“I like it.” Piped up Steve who had been silent for all this time, wondering why fate had decided he would become friends with such an attractive boy who had the added bonus of being gay.   
“So that’s decided, we’ll start calling you Bucky, if you get the teachers to call you it as well, it’ll stick till uni.”   
And as if to finalise his point, the bell rang, Hawkeye stumped out his cigarette and they all wandered off to class.

All except Steve, he stayed under the tree for a while longer, smiling to himself and adjusting his jeans, to make his excitement at having Bucky as a friend made him.


	2. Punch Bag

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve thinks Bucky should start fighting back

Weeks passed at Westmount High, Bucky became a permanent member of the group. He wasn’t bothered by any one, except Louis Jotens, who occasionally harassed him for money.

"Come nerd, give us your lunch money!" Louis demanded of Bucky. Louis and his friends had cornered Bucky on his way to the canteen.   
“Haven’t got your faggot to protect you now?” He laughed at his own joke.   
“I… I haven’t got any money.” Bucky stammered, trying to get away.   
A strong hand pushed his shoulder back against the wall.  
“Stop lying! You haven’t got your dick licker of a friend to save you this time.” Louis towered over the cowering Bucky.

"Hey, who you calling dick licker?" Steve yelled at Louis, before punching that smug grin into oblivion.   
Everyone was scared of the Captain, even Louis Jotens, he knew when his time was up.   
“What are you looking at?!” He shouted at the rest of the boys who were staring at him. They all quickly ran off, leaving Bucky and Steve.

"What was that about?" Steve asked, brushing some dirt off Bucky’s back.  
“Nothing, nothing, they were just being dicks.” Bucky mumbled, avoiding Steve’s gaze.   
“That’s obviously not true, but you clearly don’t want to talk about it.”  
“Thanks.” Bucky turned away to get to the canteen but he was stopped by Steve’s strong hand on his shoulder.

"Kid, I don’t get you, I mean, it’s not like you’re an average nerd."   
“Thanks.” Bucky replied sarcasm dripping in his voice.  
“No I mean, you’re not skinny, you’ve got a lot of muscle, and it’s not like you’re covered in spots a and acne. I’d go as far as saying that you’re kinda hot.” Steve laughed, telling Bucky honestly what he thought, but pretending he was joking.   
“Thanks, I guess the problem was I’m so used to being bullied I just forget that I spent everyday of summer working out or at the gym. I don’t really know my own strength.”  
“Tell you what, come to mine on Saturday, I’ll see what you’ve got.” Steve made an excuse to get Bucky round his house.  
“Sure.”

Saturday  
Steve was anxious, nervous for Bucky’s arrival. He wanted to make sure everything was perfect, he began tiding his room but gave up after the 15th black shirt didn’t have anywhere to go.

Bucky was nervous too, as he drove to 24 Peregrine Avenue. Over the weeks he had got to know the group, he realised that they made him feel like a human being instead of being ignored all the time; the thing was, he also realised that he had a bit of a crush of Steve.

He arrived in Peregrine Avenue, it was not what he’d expected at all. He - maybe a little meanly - expected the council estate on the edge of town, with dodgy neighbours and creepy old perverts.  
This was the complete opposite: well kept gardens with filled flower beds stretched up to old Victorian style houses that had long windows and, arriving at number 24, found it had a huge double garage and a sliver Mercedes parked next to, what Bucky assumed, was Steve’s black and white minivan.   
He pulled his car into the driveway and rang the doorbell; after a short wait, the door was opened by Steve.   
He had on black shorts and a blue T-shirt, there was a pair of boxing gloves swung casually over his shoulder.

"Hey, come in." Steve gestured to Bucky to go through into the the kitchen which was down the hall. "Sit down, do you want anything to drink?" Steve grabbed a Powerade from the fridge and held the door open for Bucky to see inside.  
“Same.” Steve threw the bottle at Bucky and grabbed another for himself.

"So." said Steve, sitting down on the bar stool opposite Bucky. "I have two punch bags in the garage and some sparring equipment, we don’t have to go to heavy, I just want to get you to judge your own strength."  
“Sure.”  
“And I’ve got some physics homework that maybe you could help me with…” He trailed off, looking down into his blue drink.  
“Happy to help.” Bucky smiled, glad that Steve might be inviting him to stay for a while.   
“Right, let’s get you fighting.” He downed the last dregs of the energy drink, and they headed to the garage where two punchbag swung from chains on the ceiling. There was also another set of boxing gloves on the floor.   
Bucky knew this scene well, his garage looked very similar.   
“I want to start off slowly and build you up, basically I want to find your peak.”

Bucky put on the gloves and readied himself to hit the bag.   
He threw a punch.   
The bag barely even moved.  
“Come on, I’m sure you’ve got more than that.” Encouraged Steve. “You’re concentrating too much on hitting the bag, concentrate on how you hit it.”   
“You seem very knowledgeable in this sport.” Bucky remarked, noticing Steve’s good coaching.   
“I used to coach my cousin, before my mum and that side of the family disowned me.” Steve swung a punch at the other bag, causing it to lift 90 degrees in the air.   
“Oh.”  
“Well, history is history. Now, let’s focus on the present and you.”   
Bucky threw another punch, this time the bag swung a little. He continued to hit the bag, each time it moving a bit more. Steve watched and assisted, his faith for the boy increasing and his crush ever growing as he watched the determined Bucky throw punched at the soft leather. Steve didn’t know what it was about Bucky he liked so much.   
It wasn’t just his looks though, the Captain wasn’t that superficial. Maybe it was his determination and his strength which he didn’t know existed - mental and physical.

After a while Steve realised that Bucky wasn’t getting much better; he was good, but with muscles like those, he should be able to break the bag.   
“Stop a second.” Steve grabbed the punch bag and held it still. Bucky’s arms dropped to his side and sweat dripped down his back. “You need to adjust your stance.” Steve stood close behind Bucky, hoping to God he wouldn’t get a boner; he put his arms on Bucky’s shoulders and turned them sideways, making sure they touched his.   
Then he put his hands on Bucky’s hips and twisted them inline with his shoulders, he left his hands there for a little too long.   
Bucky’s feet adjusted, left one forward, right one behind, giving him a stronger base.   
“Now try.” Steve backed away, feeling something between his legs.   
Bucky hit the bag, it swung more than it had before. He was pleased, this feeling gave him the energy to go again and again and again. Each time the punches stronger. He threw a punch which almost knocked the bag off its hook.   
“Nice, if you keep like that, you’ll be able to throw Jotens across that bloody soccer pitch.” Steve caught the bag and took it off its hook, tossing it to the ground. “You’ve got the muscle for it, and I’m sure there is a six-pack under that T-shirt.”   
He paused, and Bucky didn’t have anything to say.

Then it suddenly seemed to get very hot in the garage, they realised they were both sweating buckets and had been going for two hours.   
Steve pulled off his t-shirt, throwing it to the floor.   
Bucky tried not too look by unsticking his sweat sodden shirt from his back, this worked fine for thirty seconds, before Steve asked him a question.   
“I know there’s something else, to why you moved schools. No one gets bullied that badly for being nerdy. I’m sorry, but it’s true.”   
Bucky sighed, he knew it would come up one day, he just didn’t know when.   
“I think you know.”   
And Steve knew, he understood the pain of being rejected and threatened because of a tiny thing. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t tiny, but still, what difference did it make?  
“That bad huh?”   
Bucky nodded solemnly, looking down at his feet.   
“Come on, let’s take a break, I need a drink.” They went through into the kitchen and Bucky sat awkwardly on one of the stools.

The thing was, when The Captain needed a drink, he meant ‘a drink’.   
He grabbed two beers from the fridge and handed one to Bucky, who cracked it open and took a large swig.

"So, do you want to take a shower? We’ve got spare towels and I can use my dad’s en-suite." Steve was trying to keep Bucky here got as long as possible.  
“Sure, but I haven’t got a change of clothes and these are all sweaty.” Bucky was delighted at the chance to stay longer.   
“You can borrow a shirt of mine, it might be a bit tight though.”   
“That’s fine.” Bucky stumbled over his words, making him blush and want to be swallowed up.

They both finished in the shower and Steve was sitting on his bed, waiting for Bucky to finish changing. He had freed a semi when in the shower, and at the thought of Bucky in his shirt, that semi became a full, so, naturally, he acted upon his urges.   
Bucky, had also taken slightly longer in the bathroom, peeing with a boner was harder than he’d ever imagined.

Finally, he came out the bathroom, wearing Steve’s shirt, which, he suspected, had been chosen because it was very tight.

"See. I knew you had a six pack." Steve joked, prodding Bucky’s stomach as he sat down next to him on the bed.   
It took Bucky a while to get used to his surroundings; the walls of the room were light blue, but this could barely been seen under posters which covered three of the walls, the fourth wall, which had a large window in the centre, was covered in amazing pencil sketches, mainly just grey, but occasionally some colour had been added.   
There were sketches of people: Hawkeye, Rogue, Pepper, Logan, Natasha.   
Of objects: The minivan, the electric guitar that stood in the corner of the room, the boxing gloves.   
Of buildings and landscapes: The house, the old church down the road, a mountain view from Canada.

"Yes, those are mine." Steve stated, as if they could be anyone else’s, Bucky thought.   
“They’re amazing. Did you take art?”  
Steve scoffed at this. “What? The terrifying Captain taking art? I don’t think so somehow.”   
Bucky was left hanging, he didn’t have a good reply that didn’t sound patronising. “Come on, let’s do some physics.”   
Steve pulled a revision guide from under a stack of books on a shelf, causing them too all fall to the floor. A sketchbook fell open to reveal a nearly complete A3 sketch of Bucky laughing. It was the largest piece Steve had ever done, it had more detail than any other.   
“Shit.” Steve quickly closed the book and kicked it under the bed.   
Bucky was left gobsmacked at the drawing he’d seen, it was so detailed, he could almost hear his laughter. “So, physics.” Steve said firmly, wanting to move on.

They worked through a chapter of the book, Bucky explaining to Steve - who wasn’t really listening, he was noticing the sexual tension between them and wondering what to say - about potential energy and ohms.   
“And if we divide-”   
“Shut up Bucky.” Steve interrupted Bucky mid sentence, who looked extremely put out that he’d been stopped in his tracks.  
“What?”   
“I didn’t really need physics help.”  
“No shit.”   
“I just wanted you to-  
“Come over? Really? Never have guessed.” Bucky had figured out Steve’s little plan in the shower.   
“Was I that obvious?” Steve smirked.   
“Maybe a little.” The tension and something else rising in the room.

Both boys leaned in until their lips touched, Steve’s hands went from his lap to Bucky’s neck; Bucky’s went around Steve’s waist.   
Their lips moved together, each always fighting to be on the outside. Bucky let his tongue slide into Steve’s mouth, Steve did the same. They explored each others mouths, finding the nooks and crannys, dips and rises.   
Steve lay back, Bucky moved with him, until he was laying on top of Steve.  
Steve’s fingers ran through Bucky’s hair, messing it up, tangling his best curls.   
After an extensive amount of time, they stopped, Bucky stayed where he was, but propped himself up so he could actually see Steve.   
“Physics huh?”


End file.
